First, thank you for all the story and author alerts, apparently you all like this story so far so: Tension is mounting, Rodriguez is out there and you all are probably going to be angry with me, but this is what it is. Love the reviews and support you guys are giving this story. I am already working on the next update so you won't have long to wait I promise. For your pleasure though, this is a bit longer than usual so, enjoy and let me know what you think.
Again any mistakes are mine as this is not beta'd…
When Reid and Rossi arrived at the widow's home, it was 10:30, but the lights were still on. Ringing the doorbell, Rossi mulled over the information that Dr Isles and Reid had provided. Cause of death had been fairly easy to ascertain according to Dr Isles, what had taken a bit longer had been determining the strength of the perpetrator. According to Dr Isles the amount of force was quite incredible to be able to snap two necks so cleanly and one after the other. The only one with tazer burns had been Maldonado, so it appeared he had been incapacitated first.
Hearing someone coming to the door, he looked at Reid and nodded. He would do most of the talking right now.
"Hello?" The door opened as far as the chain allowed. "Yes can I help you?"
"Ma'am, I'm Agent Rossi and this is Dr. Reid with the FBI. We have a couple of questions to ask you about Sarah Rodriguez." Showing her his id, he waited while she undid the chain.
Opening the door, Jennifer Ryan was a small woman in her fifties, with light brown hair. "Why are you asking about Sarah? She's…she's dead." The shimmer in her eyes showed unshed tears as she mentioned her dead wife's name.
"We're sorry for your loss ma'am but we need to ask you about her ex-husband and her son." Rossi explained
"Why?"
"Ma'am can we come in, we just want to ask a couple of questions."
Letting them in, "please come in sit down, tell me what you need," she invited them into the dining room and sat down at one end.
"Ma'am we understand that Mrs. Rodriguez was a victim of domestic violence before she came to live with you. Is there anything you can tell us about that and her son's involvement if any."
Visibly shaking, she recounted the abuse, "That bastard he almost killed her, beat her all over her body. Sarah tried to reconcile with him for her son's sake and got a beating for it. He almost killed her" she said quietly. "I'm sorry, but he was a hateful man."
"Can you tell me what's going on and why you're asking me about Sarah"
"Ma'am, are you aware of the women that have been found murdered in the past ten days?"
"Well yes, who hasn't, why?"
"Well our main suspect right now is Sarah's son." Rossi looked for her response.
"Max?" She looked pensive.
"Is there anything you can tell us? "Rossi asked.
"Sarah…Sarah was always worried about him, Max saw everything you know…he used to visit us until his father started poisoning his mind about homosexuality and how a woman should be subservient…we had to stop his visits when he hit his mother."
Reid looked surprised, "He hit his mother? Why?"
"She told him no," at their questioning looks, she continued, "he asked his mom to come home and live with his dad like she was supposed to and when she said no, he punched her. He was thirteen and quite big for his age. He hurt her; broke her cheekbone and I told her I didn't think it was a good idea for him to come back. So he didn't"
"Ma'am, was that the last time he was over?"
"Yes, she saw him infrequently after that, once she told him no, he didn't want anything to do with her. I was very surprised when he became a police officer"
"Is there anything else you can think of that might help us?"
"No, I mean Sarah told me about the abuse, we actually met at the hospital, I was a nurse and saw her in the emergency room. She was so embarrassed by the abuse, she didn't speak about it much, but she was always worried about Max."
"What was she worried about?" Reid asked
"She was worried about his future, she had high hopes when he became a police officer, but his father had poisoned him, against her, against women. She worried he would never be happy."
"Do you know if Detective Rodriguez is close to his father?"
"Well yes, up until last year, he still lived with his father. I don't know if he still does though" Both men looked at each other, they knew Rodriguez had an apartment but if he was close to his father then its very likely he would have contact with him as well. They needed to let Morgan, JJ and Detective Rizzoli that his father's home is likely a haven for him.
"Thank you ma'am, that's been very helpful." Rossi got up to leave, but Reid had a question, "One more thing, ma'am, was Detective Rodriguez at his mother's funeral?"
"Why yes, yes he was, he didn't say anything to me though, he was just there."
"Thank you ma'am"
As they stepped off the porch, they looked at one another, "He's close to his father, it's very likely that he would go there. I'm going to call JJ." Grabbing his cell, he speed dialed JJ and was surprised when it went directly to voicemail. "JJ this is Reid, he lived with his father until a year ago. Its definitely a place he would go if he's running. Call me back."
"No answer?" Rossi said.
"Voicemail." Sighing heavily Reid continued, "I think we've also confirmed one of his stressors." Reid said.
"You're right Reid, his mother's death along with Detective Rizzoli's dismissal of him, but that was a year ago, all of this didn't start until what, ten days ago?"
"Rossi," Reid reminded him, "Detective Rizzoli and Dr Isles said they came out as a couple about two weeks ago when Detective Korsak caught them outside of the Dirty Robber."
"Rodriguez must have seen them, that's the only thing that could have precipitated this. He probably saw them and saw his mother again. If I understood Ms. Ryan correctly, his father primarily raised Rodriguez so his mother was right to be worried; there was probably a lot of hatred in that house. It bad enough in his mind that Rizzoli broke it off so quickly, but to then see her months later with a woman?" Rossi shook his head, "It probably brought everything crashing back at him. This guy's level of control is amazing, I mean he's a detective, to keep all of that carefully bottled up…"
"Well, I think its safe to assume that Rizzoli may well be his next target, we need to get in touch with Emily and Frost and see what they found at his apartment."
Climbing into the drivers seat, he looked back at the house and saw Ms. Ryan shaking her head in the window before moving away.
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Jane drove quietly looking at JJ every now and then out of the corner of her eye. She knew JJ was satisfied with Morgan's apology, and on the face of it, so was she, to a point. He had insulted who she was and while she may accept that he was apologetic for his words, his tone and body language still told her he didn't trust her, which was fine by her since she didn't trust him either.
She admitted to herself that she was still pissed at Morgan but she also knew that if they wanted to catch this asshole, she needed to play nice. She could tell him off after they closed this case. Smiling, she liked that idea and turned the music up a bit to lighten her mood.
JJ kept trying to get a signal on her phone but was unsuccessful.
"No signal?" Jane said
"No, I don't understand it."
"This section of town houses a remote power station, so the signal tends to cut in and out, if I remember correctly, you can still send and receive text though."
"Oh okay then," Head hunched over the phone, she texted Hotch to let him know they were almost there.
Once she hit send, she bit her bottom lip and sat pensively. Mind made up, she texted Emily a short note and hit send. Satisfied, she sat back.
Morgan knew she was trying to reach Hotch and was surprised about the lack of phone signal himself, checking his phone, he saw one bar only. Sighing he put his phone away. He could try again later.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Anything yet?" Frost looked over at Emily who was busy checking her phone.
"No dammit!" Her frustration was evident in her voice and face.
"You think they're in trouble don't you?"
"Yes…No…I don't know!" Frustrated she pounded the dash. "I'm calling Hotch, I think we need to send some units over there, just in case."
"Do it!"
Pressing down on the accelerator he sped up. Emily's demeanor was making him nervous. He didn't know her very well but after they picked up Maldonado and his brother, he had certainly learned to respect the woman. If she thought they were in trouble, he would go with it just like he does with Jane.
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Pulling in front of Rodriguez' father's house, Jane was surprised at how isolated it seemed. There was no one else on the street and many of the homes appeared to be vacant, with for sale or foreclosure signs.
"Well, what do we think?"
"I think its creepy, too quiet" JJ shuddered at her own words as she looked up and down the street.
"This does seem to be out in the middle of nowhere, but don't worry JJ, we'll be fine, right Morgan?" Turning around to look at the big man, she nodded toward JJ.
"Yeah Jareau, come on we've seen creepier stuff than this in our job." Patting her shoulder, he got a smile.
"Let me call in and let them know we're here." Picking up the car radio, she called in their location and time.
"Well, there's a light on, so he must be up." Morgan looked at the two women, "come on, lets get this over with."
Leading the way, Jane walked up the porch steps and rang the doorbell. When no one answered, she rang it again. Looking at JJ and Morgan she was about to try again when the door was opened suddenly.
"What do you want!" The belligerent voice belonged to a big man, at least as big as Morgan. Soft around the middle, he resembled his son with dark hair going grey and almost black eyes. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt he smelled of alcohol, as he stood at the door unsteady on his feet.
"Excuse me sir but we need to speak with you about your son." Jane tried being polite but this guy was drunk and she didn't know what was filtering in.
"Yes I have a son."
"No sir," Morgan interrupted, "we're asking about your son." Watching the man, he was surprised when he turned around and walked down the hallway, "come on in I was just having a drink" he called over his shoulder.
The three looked at one another and followed him into the living room. Walking in he waved them toward the couch. "Sit… now, what about my son?" He sat in his chair like he was holding court, picking up the beer he had left on the end table.
Neither of them had taken a seat, they were instead looking around at some of the pictures on the tables and walls. They were pictures of the man in front of them with a dark haired woman who strongly resembled Jane and a young boy of about eleven. The woman's body language in the photos was distinctly positioned away from the man and her smile was, well, non-existent. Jane looked back at him, "Mr. Rodriguez, we need to ask you some questions about your son." Her voice was all business, so she was surprised when he started laughing.
"You're her aren't you."
"I'm sorry?" Jane didn't understand what he was talking about.
Morgan was looking around uneasily, as was JJ. Looking from the Rodriguez to Jane, Morgan was startled by a noise from below him.
"Sir, is anyone else here?" Morgan asked.
The older man stared at him and then looked from Jane to JJ. Tilting his head he was intrigued by the Detective's protective posture around the blond.
"No there isn't, feel free to take a look if you like," waving his free hand toward the entry, "I have nothing to hide." Turning his focus back on Jane, JJ felt a shiver run up her spine at the intensity of his glare.
"JJ, you good here?" Morgan was moving toward the entryway, not wanting to ignore the noise he heard.
"Nodding her head, she kept her hand close to her gun and watched as Jane spoke with the elder Rodriguez.
"You didn't answer my question, what did you mean by 'you're her'" Watching Morgan walk through the doorway she briefly wondered if it was a good idea before turning her attention back to her question.
"You're the girl Max dated right? The chick who's a dyke now, like his fucking mother." With a mocking tone in his voice, he watched as the word dyke made her clench her teeth. Smiling, "I'm right aren't I."
Jane did not like where this was going, the hairs on the back of her neck were raised and all she could think of besides punching this asshole in the face was getting the hell out of here right now.
In her best police voice, she tried to diffuse whatever she felt was happening, "Sir, I'm sure you must be tired," ignoring his derogatory comments, "we can come back tomorrow and speak with you. JJ," Jane motioned to the doorway, "call Morgan, we're leaving."
Nodding, JJ walked out in front of her and called for Morgan. "Morgan! Morgan come on we're leaving."
"Coming!"
"Why are you leaving?" Standing up, he walked toward the women. Jane stepped in front of JJ, "sir, we can see ourselves out, thank you, like I said, we'll just come back tomorrow."
"Shit! What the…!"Morgan's yell died out.
"Derek!" JJ ran out and Jane turned to follow when the first blow struck. The kidney shot brought her to her knees and slammed her into the doorway. "Fuck…should've listened to my gut". She tried to grab her gun when a kick to her back knocked her forehead into the doorframe. Facedown, she felt wetness on her face as she tried to fight the darkness that was threatening to take control. The kick to her ribs was accompanied by a harsh familiar voice, "fucking dyke" and was enough to send her into the darkness she had fought against.
I know, evil cliffhanger, but I promise I will post this weekend again. I actually don't work tomorrow and have permission from the family to just write. Yay me!
So please, let me know what you thought of this buildup and the story in general if you can it helps me tailor, refine and just plain write the story.
As always, more reviews, quicker updates, so review, review, review….
